More on Kosovo crisis: voice from Albanian side
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Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:03:43 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: More on Kosovo crisis: voice from Albanian side
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Nexhmedin Spahiu <[email protected]>
More on Kosovo crisis: voice from Albanian side
NATO's Fatal Delay in Kosova
Nexhmedin Spahiu*
The Serbian offensive for the ethnic cleansing of Kosova started
before the NATO attacks. The NATO attacks did not either instigate
nor accelerate the Serbian genocide against the Albanians of Kosova,
but these attacks have not been serious enough to prevent it.
Recognizing the independence of Kosova would make it easier to
overcome the present crisis.
It seems incredible, but it is true that after five days of air
attacks NATO has been unable to bring to heel Milosevic's Yugoslavia.
Meanwhile, the Serbian forces have undertaken a broad offensive of
ethnic cleansing against the Kosovars. If this situation continues
for a few more days, Kosova will be left without Kosovars, and NATO's
operations will lose all meaning.
Setting aside these grim predictions of a peace of the graveyard in
Kosova, it must be admitted that even if Serbia is brought to its
knees tomorrow, NATO's performance so far has put in doubt its ability
to defend the universal moral values of our planet. We may conclude
from this fact that either NATO is militarily or politically unable to
crush a terrorist and genocidal regime like that of Milosevic, or that
NATO does not want to bring Milosevic to his knees, but wants to allow
him to carry out ethnic cleansing in Kosova, and its operations are a
mere farce.
Whatever the truth is, it poses a serious danger to global peace and
security. On our planet, we have at the moment 185 states and more
than 800 ethnic groups. The Serbian example would encourage other
totalitarian and non-totalitarian states to solve their interethnic
problems according to the Serbian model. This would mean wiping from
the face of the earth three-quarters if the total number of peoples in
the world, and perhaps indeed the entire planet, because the states
with the most ethnic problems, such as China, India, Pakistan, etc.,
also possess nuclear weapons.
The most recent Serbian offensive began a few days before the NATO air
attacks. Indeed, were it not for NATO's attacks, the ethnic cleansing
of Kosova would perhaps now be completed. What is at the moment
restraining Milosevic's Serbs is not any moral scruple, but the
resistance of the KLA and the repeated attacks of NATO aircraft. If
we were to call the fact that NATO has still not brought Milosevic to
his knees a failure, then the reasons for this failure are as follows:
First: NATO has not properly studied the psychological factor and the
Serbian national ideology. The Serbs are the only nation in the
former Yugoslavia that possesses a core in the regional sense. This
core is Belgrade and its surroundings, where the modern Serbian state
was born. Nations with a core and a periphery normally share out their
resources in a way that gives the fruits to the core, and the myths to
the periphery. In the Serbian case, there are myths about today's
Macedonia, which the Serbs call "Old Serbia," and about Kosova as "the
cradle of Serbianism," and so forth.
The military successes of the Serbs have come about because the Serbs
of the core have always been ready to sacrifice the Serbs of the
periphery. This was the case in the Balkan wars, in the two world
wars, and most recently in the war with Croatia. Belgrade manipulated
the Serbs of Croatia and, on the pretext that their rights were in
danger, egged them on the commit rapes, arson, and massacres against
the Croats at a time when the Croats were powerless. There was no
lack of help from Belgrade for this purpose. When the Croats became
strong and attacked the Serbs of Croatia, putting the latter in
serious danger, Belgrade made no move to protect them, because it did
not wish to risk anything in the face of a Croatia that was now
militarily and politically powerful.
The NATO onslaught against Serbia has not crushed Serbia, at least in
the least five days, because it is Serbia's periphery rather than its
core that is under attack. NATO is striking at empty warehouses,
which is of course a source of humor. The facilities that constitute
the backbone of the Milosevic regime have still not been threatened.
Belgrade Radio-Television, Milosevic's main weapon, has not been
attacked, the weapons production factory at Kragujevac likewise, and
the defense and interior ministries have still not been the targets of
NATO bombs. In the first U.S. attack on Libya, the daughter of Libyan
leader Muammar al-Ghaddafi was killed, but Slobodan Milosevic's
daughter can appear at a rock concert in a Belgrade square with the
slogan "NATO - sorry we are singing."
In fact, Milosevic was emboldened following the first night of NATO
air attacks, when he saw that the purpose of the attack was not to
crush but to chastise him. He saw that there was time before the
final reproach to continue the ethnic cleansing of Kosova. On the
first night, he was indeed sufficiently taken aback and scared to let
fall a statement on Radio Belgrade, "It is not only Kosovo that is in
question, but Serbia too. Let us set aside Kosovo - this is also an
question of Serbia." In his initial confusion and fear, Milosevic
forget that Kosova is the "cradle" of Serbia. But he remembered this
on the following night, when he saw that the NATO attacks were not so
serious.
If NATO is not to fail in its contest with Milosevic, the first thing
it must do is to disable Belgrade Radio-Television, which is the lair
of the leading criminals not only of the war in Kosova, but of the
wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia. This will oblige the Serbian
public to follow foreign television channels, to which Milosevic would
have limited access, and which would promote Serbian politicians that
would offer decent alternatives to genocide and ethnic cleansing. The
Serbs must learn how to protest against their compatriots who are
killing women, children, and the elderly.
Second, Montenegro must be induced to declare independence, and its
independence must be recognized immediately.
The third and most important element would be to recognize the
independence of Kosova. If Kosova's independence were recognized,
there would no longer be any point in the Serbs' campaign of ethnic
cleansing. In the end, this is the only logical solution. How can the
Kosovars now be told to live under Serbia, when the idea is engraved
on the Serbs' minds that they were bombarded because of the Kosovars?
This would no longer have any meaning. Such a step should be part of
the punishment of Serbia for its act of genocide. In any event, it
will be easier for the international community to defend the small
Serbian minority in Kosova than to protect the large Albanian minority
in Serbia.
Finally, any mention of the independence of Kosova is usually ruled
out on the grounds of geopolitical security in the region. In fact,
it is precisely the independence of Kosova that would secure regional
geopolitical equilibrium. All the ethnic groups in the eastern
Balkans have two states: The Romanians have Romania and Moldova, the
Greeks have Greece and Cyprus, the Turks have Turkey and Northern
Cyprus; the Bulgars have Bulgaria and Macedonia, and the Serbs have
Serbia and Montenegro. The Albanians are alone in having Albania, but
not being allowed Kosova. Why not?
*Author is a prominent Albanian political analyst
--
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